A64 3200+ vs GF 6800 GT

[keke]

I'm not sure which one to get.

The aim is to get more FPS in both older and newer games, but I suppose Doom 3 & Half-Life 2 could be the main benchmarks.

My current system:
Athlon XP 2600+
KT400 mobo
1 DIMM
GF4 Ti 4200

My mobo ain't really up to par with Nforce2 DualDDR boards so I suppose this system could equal a 2400+ / 2500+ with Nforce2 & DualDDR.

For the Athlon 64 I'd upgrade to socket 754 since the mobos are cheaper and I wouldn't have to get new memory.

I suppose it might be wise to save some money and upgrade to PCI-Express & socket 939 but that would take probably more than a few months and I don't wanna wait that long, especially with Doom 3 out and Half-Life 2 coming up real soon.

I think it would be better to upgrade the graphics adapter first but I'm not sure. Which one would be your pick and WHY?

 

[Kanavit]

for gaming, go for the 6800GT. that should hold you over until you can get something better.

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A64 3400+ Newcastle
1GB PC 4000 Kingston HyperX
Asus K8V basic Bios 1004
PNY Geforce 6800 GT 256MB DDR3
70,261 Aquamarks

 

[Ned_Flanders]

GF6800GT overclock it to ULTRA specs (most cards I've heard can do this)

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STFU

 

[Mr5oh]

The 6800 will make the biggest difference. Of course if you had an nForce board you would be a little better off, but not sure it would be worth an upgrade.

Get the 6800GT it will give you more FPS increase, than a CPU upgrade would.

My Desktop: <A HREF="http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html" target="_new">http://Mr5oh.tripod.com/pc.html</A>

 

[windgod]

1 DIMM of what type of memory??? The 6800GT will get you more noticable returns sooner, but it outclasses even the A64 3400+ (most games are now CPU limited again). SOOOO i'd go with the vid card (value will hold for 7-8 mo) and it'll be the better buy for the next year or so. IF AT ALL POSSIBLE wait for the PCI express version and the subsequent mobos coming out. The difference btwn your mobo and the Nforce2 running the same stuff is 2-4% at best. Don't worry about it, the gains from the PCIe will be bigger.

"If it ain't broke, fix it till it is."

 

[bosshoss]

If you go with the 6800GT your cpu will definitely be a limiter, I have an NFORCE2 mobo with an Athlon 2400+ oc'ed to 2.2ghz and I notice in most new games that my cpu cant keep up, so if you go with a vid card upgrade you will be cpu limited. BTW if you do go with the 6800GT get the BFG6800GT, they cost a little more, but I feel secure knowing I have a lifetime warranty.

<i> If the creator of the human body is "The Ultimate Engineer", why did he put a recreation site right next to a waste treatment area? </i>

 

[keke]

Great tip.. or maybe not..

I'm not sure how you got it wrong but I'm not buying the card so that I can brag to my friends that I have one of the fastest cards available. I'm buying it to get more fps in games & perhaps a bit better graphic effects.

The performance boost in Doom 3 (1024x768) THG tested was 0.2 fps more with ULTRA than GT. Not to mention the test was made with P4 3.2 GHz not with my crappy system. I'm used to 640x480 / 800x600 and that's fine with me since it's the FPS that count for me a lot more than superb image quality. I'm a kind of guy who doesn't care visual quality as much as story & feeling in games and if the FPS is low it takes a lot of feeling & fun out of the game. I wouldn't even be considering using AA or AF. Also I'd rather be playing 320x200 with 100 fps than with 640x480 50 fps.

I suppose that's why I didn't like LOTR movies either. Sure it had nice animations and all but if you ask me, the plot and the actors kind of sucked except for the guy who was also in Matrix.

Thanks for the other replies though.

 

[keke]

The memory is 200 MHz DDR so it would work with the A64 socket 754. For 939 I'd have to get another since it uses that DualDDR stuff or whatever it's called.

I know my CPU will be limiting factor if I get the GF 6800 GT, but if I upgrade my CPU then the video card is the limiting factor. And currently I believe the limiting factor is my video card, except for CS which I also play. But I think I'm gonna switch to CS:S once HL2 is out and I've heard that you can get much better FPS there with a good video card.

 

[addiarmadar]

Doom 3 Is not CPU-demaning so getting a new AGP would be more beneficial.

<i><font color=red>Only an overclocker can make a computer into a convectional oven.</i></font color=red>

 

[endyen]

One desenting vote. Not about upgrading graphics, but what card to get. In about a year, you will be getting a new mobo. It will have PCex insteed of AGP. Then you will be stuck with a great card, but no use, and no market.
Settle for a 9800pro, now, and start saving for a whole new system.

 

[ohnoesaz]

"It will have PCex insteed of AGP"

Though youre correct somewhat, I really feel boards will have both onboard soon. Makers of boards will be doing a travesty if they only make pci express available if ya ask me with all thse insane agp based cards on the market.

 

[keke]

That's one thing that worries me, but still I believe AGP will be around quite a bit longer cause it is still enough for graphics adapters and I can't get a single GF 6800 PCI-E card yet here where I live.

Actually I originally thought about getting a GF 5900 XT around 2003 December / 2004 January but people were talking that I should wait for the NV40 (& R800?) to get published and the prices should drastically fall. I waited and waited. I thought the new cards would be published around February but no, they were published in April. And yet, it didn't have any effect on 5900 XT's. Actually I don't see why these cards haven't even had much of impact on 5900 /5950 Ultra's since I can get the 6800 GT cheaper than one of those.

The point is, I'm really tired of waiting anymore
I've got Doom 3 & Thief 3 waiting to be played and HL2 coming up real soon and I don't wanna miss out the fun when friends talk about that game and I say "nah, I got too crappy FPS on that game, I'll wait 'till I get a new system". So I'd rather not start saving up money for a totally new system.

I wouldn't be getting a 6800 GT unless I hadn't seen how cheap one of Asus cards with 128 MB is. There are no PCI-Express versions of the 6800 series and I still can't get the Asus 6800 GT since those are expected to be available around 21st day to end of September. I have doubts about getting a similar (= as cheap) card in PCI-E and it would probably take quite some time (perhaps to 2005) to get them here.

 

[xeenrecoil]

Ok well we are pretty much talking about doubling your graphics performance when going from a R9800 Pro, to a 6800 GT ...almost.
On a Abit IS7, p4c 3Ghz, 1GB Crucial PC3200, and R9800 Pro core, i get 6,464 3Dmarks, which is pretty good, but people with my same core and a 6800 GT, are getting closer to 10,500 3Dmarks, which is just a huge leap in performance.
The same is shown when benchmarking with Aquamark, the performance almost doubles, so the R9800 Pro just isnt the value it once was, it has become the ti4200 in the days when the R9800 Pro came out.

 

[keke]

After thinking things through what's the most important thing I'm looking for from the upgrade, I've got to the solution that it's probably CS:S performance. I'm more into multiplayer stuff than single player and I thought GF 6800 GT would bring more FPS to CS:S than the CPU/mobo upgrade but after checking out some benchmarks like <A HREF="http://firingsquad.com/hardware/counter-strike_source_midrange/page3.asp" target="_new">this one</A> it seems like CPU will be the limiting factor. Even more than with the original CS. For Doom 3 the VGA upgrade would be better but I've played enough of Doom 3 to (probably) know it ain't gonna be my thing. HL2 videos have shown potential to be such a winner as the original HL was and for single player the GF 6800 GT might be better cause that's where you'd want all those nice high quality effects etc.

Right now it seems like I'll be going for the CPU/mobo upgrade, though it's sad cause the Asus GF 6800 GT is really cheap (350€) compared to other cards of its class.

 

[peter21]

If video games are your main concern then the upgrade to the 6800GT will give you the biggest boost period.

Get the 6800GT now and in the future upgrade the Mobo/CPU. I know you are worried about AGP but trust me it will be around longer than you think.

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The only thing that i truly know...

is that i know nothing at all.